BUDAPEST: The Indian boxing contingent was assured of two medals at the world youth championships even before the competition got underway after two women pugilists got direct entry into semifinals owing to the small size of the draw here.
Sakshi Gaidhani (81kg) and Neha Yadav (+81kg) made the last-four stage to put India on the medal table without the exchange of a single blow in the event, which will get underway today. While Saskhi will face Russia’s Anastasiia Rybak, Neha will square off against Ukraine’s Mariia Lovchynska in their respective semifinal clashes. Three other Indians got first-round byes into the quarters in the women’s draw, while two others made the pre-quarters directly. Divya Pawar (54kg), Manisha (64kg) and Astha Pahwa (75kg) will know of their quarterfinal opponents after the preliminary stage. Sakshi (57kg) and Jony (60kg) will start in the pre-quarterfinal stage. “We have built-up nicely towards these world championships, we had massive success at the Asian Youth Championships,” national youth coach for women Bhaskar Bhatt said. (PTI)
